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Memory-Making on Michigan’s Beaches

The beach, after a rainstorm, at South Haven, Mich., a tourist destination since the turn of the last century.Credit
Sally Ryan for The New York Times

I KNEW my mission was achieved when my oldest daughter sailed past me on her stomach, shouting, “It’s like an ocean without saltwater!” Her sister was close behind, riding another wave. Though I spent my childhood summers boating and swimming in Lake Michigan, my two teenage daughters, Harriet, 19, and Florence, 15, had never known the joys of plunging into the clear, cool, open waters of a Great Lake. Therefore, it seemed only fitting that our mother-daughter trip last month should be to my old stomping, or rather swimming, grounds. Rather than take a nostalgic trip to the top of Michigan’s mitten, I decided we should instead hit what would be virgin territory for me as well and head to the west coast, where I had heard that a half-dozen beach towns could easily be visited in a four-day period, thanks to 170 miles of gentle lakeside highway.

We began our trip on the southern coast of Lake Michigan with a brief stop in the small town of New Buffalo, a 90-minute drive from Chicago and three hours from Detroit. As we drove down the sloping main street, past the boats anchored in the harbor, it was hard to resist the lure of the lakefront park and beach, with its sand dunes and wooden walkways. But we were here for one reason only, to get into the summer mood over lunch at the Stray Dog, Michigan’s answer to the Black Dog Tavern on Martha’s Vineyard.

Instead of joining the crowd at the wraparound wooden bar, we found a table in the back, where walls of windows overlooked the harbor. Over Windward Burgers with guacamole and Stray Dog hot dogs topped with cheese, bacon and caramelized onions, we discussed our day’s plans: some late-afternoon beach time for the girls in South Haven, an hour’s drive north, while I learned about the area’s history at the Michigan Maritime Museum.

South Haven is a boating town, and the tanned pedestrians on Main Street looked as if they had all just stepped off one of the sailboats in the harbor. We found our way to the wide sandy beach, where families congregated under colorful umbrellas and teenage boys paraded in and out of the water with their boogie boards. I dropped the girls off and headed to the museum, intent on perusing the more than 200 photos in the “Cruisin’ Down the River” exhibition.

I quickly learned the significance of not just the Black River, which feeds into Lake Michigan, but the entire area. South Haven had started out as a lumbering town in the 19th century, and eventually became a shipbuilding center, churning out the schooners and steamers that transported timber down to Chicago and Milwaukee. By the turn of the century, South Haven and many of its neighboring lumber-, fruit- and fur-trading towns had become major tourist destinations, filled with summer resorts, lake cottages, pavilions, casinos, theaters and opera houses.

Later that afternoon, walking down the 1,200-foot-long pier toward the 1903 red iron lighthouse, I imagined tall ships, instead of motorboats, passing into the harbor (a replica of one docked in town still sails the Great Lakes) and women in long skirts with parasols lounging on the beaches, rather than girls in bikinis with iPods, like my own.

That night, however, contemporary South Haven was more than evident. After dropping off our bags at the Old Harbor Inn, we quickly learned that the waterfront was the congregating point for young and old sailors alike. My teenagers were more than happy to observe the singles scene around us as we ate pizza at York’s Landing overlooking the Idler Riverboat Pub, a stationary open-deck party boat, as we listened to a live band playing Jimmy Buffett and Hootie and the Blowfish.

We headed to Saugatuck, a short 30 minutes north of South Haven, the next morning. Saugatuck and the town of Douglas — only minutes apart on either side of the Kalamazoo River — are known as much for their cultural institutions as their sweeping beaches. Saugatuck, a summer haven for the Midwest’s gay community, is also billed as the Art Coast of Michigan. Considering the Saugatuck Center for the Arts (offering art classes and cultural performances), the Mason Street Warehouse, offering both in-house and touring theatrical productions; the Red Barn Playhouse (showcasing community theater); and Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist’s Residency (the Art Institute of Chicago’s affiliated summer school), it is easy to see why these two towns have become weekend destinations year round. But it was the many art galleries and interior design stores that kept us from spending the entire day sunbathing on Oval Beach, with its wild landscape of dunes intersected with conservation paths.

Regretting that I had not splurged and booked us into the gorgeous Wickwood Inn — co-owned and run by Julee Rosso, one of the authors of “The Silver Palate Cookbook” — in Saugatuck, I gathered the girls for the one-hour drive north to Grand Haven. Luckily, any disappointment about that night’s accommodation quickly evaporated when we pulled up to the Harbor House Inn, with its rose pink shutters and wraparound porch. We found tea and cookies awaiting us, which we enjoyed on wicker rockers outside. Our suite overlooked the two-and-a half-mile harbor boardwalk that connects the downtown area to the lakeside beach.

In the hours before sunset, crowds had gathered along the banks of the lake with folding chairs, picnics and blankets, and I suddenly remembered reading about a musical fountain that not only plays dramatic tunes each night (our performance opened with the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey”) but also includes a light show. Though we were tempted to watch this much anticipated event from the rooftop patio of Snug Harbor, where the menu offers everything from nachos to sushi, we instead settled onto a harbor bench where we applauded and cheered with the locals as the fountain suddenly sprang to life at 10 p.m.

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With the skies overcast the following morning, it was hard to pull ourselves away from our cozy inn. And though the shops and beach in Grand Haven were enticing, we decided instead to head to Pentwater, a cute town an hour north that we had heard was a shopper’s paradise. Between the Cosmic Candy Company, selling Tootsie Rolls, Pop Rocks and almost every type of vintage sweet imaginable, and the Bitchen Kitchen, a food lover’s ultimate gift shop, we spent hours roaming in and out of the many clothing, jewelry and antiques stores that line the old-fashioned main street overlooking the harbor.

But it was Ludington, a 20-minute drive north of Pentwater, that was the most memorable place for all of us. With fewer striped store awnings, Ludington feels less like a resort town and more like a working port. No doubt that is because the largest car ferry to travel Lake Michigan, the Badger, pulls in and out of Ludington’s port twice a day during the summer on its journey back and forth from Manitowoc, Wis.

At P.M. Steamers, a harborside restaurant where wooden fishing boats hang from the ceiling, we dined on grilled perch, baked trout and a salad filled with Michigan cherries. Then we finished the evening with hot chocolates at a local coffee shop called Redolencia. We fell asleep in the Four Seasons Motel, a boutique motel if ever there was one, complete with lighted lanterns, a Zen-like garden and a relaxation sunroom.

We rose early the next morning and drove past miles of rolling sand dunes and breezy beaches before entering Ludington’s 5,300-acre state park. We stepped over tree roots and rocks, and traversed a boardwalk of bridges on the Island Trail, a four-mile hike along the shoreline with breathtaking views of coves, towering forests and, of course, Lake Michigan. Eventually succumbing to the heat, we waded into the lake’s sparkling waters, diving into the water like mermaids, the waves rolling our bodies back and forth under a clear blue sky, our laughter echoing in the air — my Michigan mission achieved.

IF YOU GO

WHERE TO STAY

In South Haven, the Old Harbor Inn (515 Williams Street, 269-637-8480 or (800) 433-9210 oldharborinn.com), most rooms start at $149 in the summer; harbor-view rooms start at $219. Weekend rates are higher.

The Harbor House Inn (114 South Harbor Drive, 800-841-0610, harborhousegh.com) in Grand Haven has weekday rates starting at $160 in the summer; $170 on weekends.

WHERE TO EAT

At the Stray Dog in New Buffalo (245 North Whittaker Street, 269-469-2727), the Windward Burgers go for $10.25 and the Stray Dogs for $5.75

At P.M. Steamers (502 West Loomis Street, 231-843-9555, pmsteamers.com) in Ludington, dinner for two with wine costs about $25 a person.

For information on Ludington State Park, go to visitludington.com/statepark. Entrance without a Michigan license plate is $8 a day. Once inside, visitors will find several beachside cafes serving food and ice cream, rental facilities for boats (kayaks, canoes, rowboats) and stores selling rafts and inner tubes.

A version of this article appears in print on August 28, 2011, on Page TR9 of the New York edition with the headline: Memory-Making on Michigan’s Beaches. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe